Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Autumn '66 was the third album from the Spencer Davis Group. It includes the chart-topping Somebody Help Me which had reached number one in the UK charts in the Spring of 1966. At this stage, the group was not writing much original material. However, the seventh single When I Come Home marked the songwriting debut (with Jackie Edwards) of Steve Winwood, the outstanding talent in the band.

Many of the songs on Autumn '66 are covers of standards. Take This Hurt Off Me was also covered by The Small Faces, When a Man Loves a Woman is the Percy Sledge song and is ideally suited to Steve Winwood's soulful voice. Indeed Steve Winwood shows that he ranks alongside Steve Marriott and the Action's Reggie King as England's top soul singers at the time.

Autumn '66 is another transitional album like Revolver, the Small Faces (Immediate) or Aftermath in that it represents a crossroads in the career of the band. In this case, it represents a move away from the band's roots in blues towards a more commercial sound as shown in the single Somebody Help Me. There is also a move away from the blues harmonica towards more tracks featuring Steve Winwood's Organ playing. What is clear though is that the band enjoyed making this record.

Midnight Special is a standard that Spencer Davis used to play on street corners across Europe during his days as a student. On the Green Light is a studio improvisation, the green light being the recording light. Together 'Til The End of Time starts the album on a slow note and it represents an excellent showcase for Winwood's vocals. Dust My Blues is another standard and there is also a Yardbirds version of this.

The album finishes with the single Somebody Help Me. This helps to confirm the fact that the Spencer Davis Group made some excellent singles. It ranks alongside Gimme Some Lovin' and Keep on Running.Making-Time

These Japanese remasters went out of print almost instantly, as did a later repressing a few years later. They're one of the few places to hear the SDG albums as they were originally released. On the downside, each of these albums contained generous amounts of filler -- mostly the cuts that don't feature Winwood. On the plus side, we have what appears to be all the versions of songs that were sweetened for the U.S. market, including Somebody Help Me with overdubbed organ, which I've never heard before, and a stereo remix of I'm a Man, probably the only SDG cut ever released in stereo. Beware: despite the rumours, the cut by "the Anglos" on the first album has nothing to do with Winwood or the SDG. See http://www.winwoodfans.com/cs/csrumor.htm